Acroyoga: fun with a very flexible friend

By Olivia Walmsley Published: 7:00AM GMT 01 March 2010

Olivia Walmsley (in the pinkish top) receiving an acroyoga category Photo: JEFF GILBERT

It"s not a select thing to say, but yoga bores me. When I try a class, I deposit off sadly not in to devout reverie. Thoughts about work, the tour home and what to have for cooking confuse me.

I would love to love yoga. I prolonged to be nimble and loose, instead of unbending and incompetent to hold my toes. Thanks to a miss of flexibility, tortuous myself in to ungainly contortions is not enjoyable.

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince video diversion examination The perils of relying on mental recall in justice Electric cars: the collect of the subsequent era Stellas see forward to enlightenment in 2009 Eco-friendly golf march to open in Scotland

However, I might have found the undiluted category for me. Acroyoga which, as the name suggests, incorporates elements of acrobatics, as well as Thai rub the physique has done me re-think my yoga position.

Acroyoga sessions are conducted in pairs, with one partner lying on the ground, legs in the air at a 90-degree angle, whilst the alternative balances on their feet and attempts assorted yoga positions. It might receptive to advice challenging, but I"m positive that acroyoga is open to people of all levels of fitness and coherence even those with singular experience of mat-based yoga. Within mins of commencement my initial event at the Third Space gym in London, I am offset on my physical education instructor Anna Karides" feet and being spun in the air similar to a broom doll.

After a warm-up formed on object salutations and downward dog push-ups, Anna shows me the basics. She lies on the pad and asks me to change myself face down on her feet, a yoga on all sides I christen the Superman; Anna, however, calls it by the rather some-more elegant name, Sun Bird. This pose, she explains, helps to relax, recover and lengthen the spine, and is the starting point of all acroyogic positions.

By behaving poses in pairs, with one of you behaving as a stabilising base, both partner"s core muscles have to work additional tough only to say a position. The energy of sobriety and healthy insurgency fool around their piece in enabling both bodies to grasp a larger range of coherence than from yoga achieved on mats. "Your partner assists you in your poses, and helps you get deeper in to your practice," says Anna. "It"s similar to carrying a one-on-one yoga event each time."

First, my selected partner Isobel and I take turns spotting each alternative as we rehearse on the ground, hoik ourselves in to headstands, creation certain we"re keeping a parsimonious line and not bend the backs. "Imagine the disproportion in between balancing a hang and a floppy noodle," says Anna, enlivening us to keep the muscles around the go through engaged.

We perform headstands confronting each other. I set upon poses with my legs leaping stag, pike, hover whilst Isobel mirrors my movements. It feels ludicrous and, certain enough, we begin laughing. A seasoned category piece of tells me after that this is essentially piece of the aim. "Humour and the capability to giggle and fool around are key tools of acroyoga," she says. And it"s loyal the category feels similar to fun, not exercise. (However, I"m not shouting a integrate of days later, when my arms and abs are still throbbing.)

Finally, it"s on to the acrobatic piece of the class. I begin off as the base, and await Isobel"s weight on my feet as she performs Sun Bird. Carrying Isobel"s weight equates to I am forced to widen most serve to close my legs than I would normally. "The bottom should make use of flexibility, not strength, to support," explains Anna. "With your legs at 90 degrees, you don"t feel the weight. You"re utilizing your bones, not your muscles, to support. I can lift people most heavier than myself since I"m flexible." Although Isobel is tiny, it"s a genuine bid to keep her steady.

Once the drifting partner has mastered Sun Bird the flyer relaxes completely, vouchsafing arms, head and legs dump in to a on all sides called the Folded Leaf. This confers all the benefits of inversion: the red blood rushes to head and there is no vigour exerted on the body. "Being dangling similar to this can assistance to soothe any slow tension," Anna explains. "Your spinal column is utterly spread out out, loose and elongated."

It"s whilst you"re unresolved upside down that the Thai rub the physique piece comes in. The bottom massages the behind and shoulders of their drifting partner with their feet, as a kind of appreciate you, adding a devout component well known as metta ("giving amatory kindness").

With Isobel and I assured with the basics, we are shown how to try by artful means to get each alternative in to yoga positions I could never have imagined.

We are shown a integrate of poses, such as Back Leaf, when the partner "flies" whilst offset on her behind rather than her tummy; afterwards Plank on Plank, where Isobel and I prepare ourselves tip to toe and pretence the press up position, with the weight on each others" shoulders and ankles. From there I pull my top physique (and Isobel, whose shoulders I am supporting) in to a seated on all sides so we form a square. With my go through muscles convulsing, we hold it for a integrate of seconds and afterwards collapse.

It"s all huge fun. There are conspicuous health benefits, too. It"ll tinge you as well as disencumber you up. Jaqui Wan, one of the initial practitioners of acroyoga in the UK, tells me: "Unless you do a really energetic form of yoga, you won"t set up a lot of strength. Acroyoga focuses similarly on strength and flexibility." It additionally cultivates a suggestion of certitude and playfulness.

But for me, it"s the partner aspect that creates acroyoga so involving: if you"re spotting someone or ancillary their weight, you have to be engaged. "Switching off simply isn"t an option," says Anna. Suddenly, the category is over an hour and a half has flown by, and I haven"t once thought about dinner. My go through already aches, but especially from shouting so much. I"ll be drifting back.

* Acroyoga classes at the Third Space, London (www.thethirdspace.com) are hold each Tuesday. For sum of workshops nationwide, revisit www.acroyoga.org